Snack time

This project has encouraged me to look up different recipes for every meal, not just dinner. I've found lots of new and healthier ways to make breakfast dishes, snacks, and lunches too. I have a list of meals that I want to cook and I'm still looking up more!

When I don't make a main dish, I look up new healthier ways to make snacks. I try something different every day before I leave for practice. They're all very simple but perfect for before a practice because you get enough energy to last through the workout. Some recipes that are protein enriched are good for after a workout too because protein builds muscle. 

These are some different snacks I've made: whole grain toast with peanut butter with sliced bananas and granola mix on top; egg, ham, cheese sandwich; apple slices with peanut butter and granola mix; yogurt and fruit parfait; trail mix and berries. 

Again, they're all very simple but to get the full benefit of a workout you have to eat the right foods before and afterwards. 

Chicken bacon Alfredo pasta

For dinner last week I made chicken bacon Alfredo, and I must say it was delicious. I also added broccoli to it. If you don't like vegetables, this is a great way to get your serving of broccoli because the other ingredients make it hard to taste. This is the recipe I found online that I followed: 

Ingredients

1 lb thick cut bacon

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper 

8 tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

4 oz fresh Parmesan cheese

8 oz dried fettuccine 

2 cups frozen broccoli florets

Directions

1. Preheat a 12" skillet over high heat

2. Fill a large stock pot with water and add pasta when water boils. Cover pot and brings to a boil over high heat. Once the pasta is no longer pliable add the broccoli and cook until the pasta is almost all the way done. 

3. Meanwhile, grate cheese and set aside. 

4. Once the skillet is hot, use kitchen scissors to cut bite size pieces of bacon j to the skillet. Cook and stir occasionally until the bacon is cooked through. 

5. Meanwhile, wash and chop chicken into bite size pieces. 

6. Once the bacon is done, remove it with a slotted spoon and drain bacon grease from skillet but not all. Add the chicken bites and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until through. (About 5 minutes) then remove chicken. 

7. Drain drippings and return skillet to stove over medium heat. Cut butter I to 8 pieces and melt on the pan. Once to almost all the way melted add the cream and whisk until combined. Add cheese and whisk until your Alfredo sauce is smooth. 

8. Use tongs and remove pasta and broccoli from the pot and put it straight into the Alfredo sauce, stir. Add the chicken and bacon and heat for about 5 minutes so the sauce is absorbed. 

I swear I can't cook anything without something going wrong, which may or may not be a good thing that I chose cooking for my genius hour. During this meal, I managed to set off the smoke detector while I was cooking the bacon. Therefore I recommend cooking it on medium heat rather than high heat. But this may not have been a problem for anyone but me. Or cook it in the microwave, which I ended up doing for the last half of it. Either way it tastes good. 

Also, Instead of grating the cheese myself, I bought already grated Parmesan cheese instead. Other than these two things, I did everything else the recipe said. 

This is a great meal for before a sport competition or a workout because there is a lot of protein and carbs, which is necessary to get the full benefit of a cardio workout. I highly recommend this recipe! Here's my final product. I promise it was good, even though it may not look all that pretty. 

Chicken Parmesan

Instead of making another dessert, I decided to try a meal, so I made chicken Parmesan for my family for dinners at night. There are many ways to make it, some are very complex but being new to making something I took the simpler recipe which still turned out great. 

I breaded then cooked two chicken breasts at 350 for about 25 minutes. 5 minutes before they were done I out cheese on top of the chicken and sprinkles it with Parmesan cheese after they were done cooking. You can also add spaghetti sauce to the chicken with the cheese but I added that after everything was cooked. 

This is just a simplified version of chicken Parmesan but there are many other ways to make it that create more flavor. That's my goal for next time I cook this!

Valentine's day desserts

Whether you're giving or receiving, everyone loves candy or desserts on valentine's day, so I decided to made red velvet cupcakes and chocolate covered strawberries. 

Red velvet cupcakes are a go to recipe for valentines day because they're red, of course. Most recipes suggest cream cheese frosting, but I went with vanilla frosting instead. I decorated the cupcakes accordingly to make them more fun and to fit with the valentines day theme. 

Chocolate covered srawberries are super easy to make, but who doesn't love them? 

I brought the cupcakes I made to school and they were gone very quickly! I recommend this dessert to anyone because it's easy, and it tastes delicious! 

Fruit Pizza

Over the long weekend I made Graham Cracker Fruit Pizza. It was delicious! It's a very simple recipe and can be altered depending on what you feel like eating. The crust is often made with a sugar cookie instead, but the graham cracker crust tastes just as good and is a healthier choice. Fruit could be replaced with pieces of chocolate to make a S'more pizza, or cool whip could be yogurt instead which is also very good because it tastes like a parfait! This is the recipe I used. Also, here are some pictures of different varieties of Dessert Pizza.

Recipe

Graham cracker crust:

1/3 cups melted unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs or 10 to 12 whole graham crackers

1/4 cup granulated sugar

After the crust is made, fill it with the toppings of your choice! I put cool whip and pieces of fruit on mine. 

Graham cracker fruit pizza

S'mores dessert pizza

Chocolate chip cookies....?

This weekend Sam and I made chocolate chip cookies. It's the most basic recipe in the book yet I still managed to mess it up.
I got out all of the ingredients and put them in one big bowl in the order they were listed, which apparently is the wrong way to do it. And to top it all off I forgot to put in the salt.
Even though I'm having somewhat of a difficult time with this whole cooking thing, I'm still going to attempt more recipes and post my results. Hopefully I'll make a successful batch of chocolate chip cookies by the end of the trimester.

Mac and cheese cupcakes

Over Christmas break, Sam and I made Mac and cheese cupcakes. It's in the form of a cupcake but tastes nothing like it because it's just Mac and cheese! It's a very simple recipe and it tastes very good. To add more flavor, I would suggest adding more cheese and even some garlic powder. Sour cream could also be added to the noodle mixture to make it taste more creamy. 

Here's the recipe:

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk 

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt